COVID-19 and "Tina Express"

So the blog is and has always been like a historical log for the children and I try to include both the good and bad things that happen in life. So I think it is only fair that I add a blog regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19) which is what 2020 will forever be remembered for and will possible have a significant impact on all of our lives for the remainder of the year.

So what is Coronavirus?

Basically the coronavirus (Covid-19) is a fast spreading virus which to date has infected more than 204,200 people with over 8,200 deaths recorded - including 71 people in the UK. The virus is believed to have started in China in a "wet market" in Wuhan which sold both dead and live animals including fish and birds. The animal source of the latest outbreak has not yet been identified, but the original host is thought to be bats. Bats were not sold at the Wuhan market but may have infected live chickens or other animals sold there.

Coronovirus itself has been known about for many years and is a group if virus’s that cause disease in animals, the difference with Covid-19 is that it has now made the jump to humans. The new strain of Coronavirus appears very dangerous for humans (especially the elderly) - so far, around 20 per cent of confirmed cases have been classed as severe or critical, around 15 to 20 per cent of hospital cases have been classed as "severe" and the current death rate varies between 0.7 per cent and 3.4 per cent depending on the location and, crucially, access to good hospital care.

So how has the Coronavirus started to affect our daily lives?

Well to start with I have been made to self-isolate and work from home for 2 weeks and pretty much all social gatherings, after schools clubs, football fixtures, concerts etc have been cancelled. As the severity increases day after day in the UK it appears only a matter of days before we are all on a legal imposed lock down unless you are front line services. The fear of this happening has caused wide spread panic buying in the supermarkets leaving many empty shelves. Weirdly the thing people are bulk buying the most is toilet paper and hand cleaning gel. The hand gel is understandable as hygiene has become a major part of the global containment for the virus, but the toilet roll is just crazy. This week we could not organise our normal shopping delivery as all home delivery has stopped, so Tina tried doing our normal weekly shop the old way yesterday (walking up and down aisles) and ended up spending £30 more and buying probably half the stuff we usually get. The biggest problem we had was no eggs or potatoes.

Slightly off topic but several years ago I built Tina a fitted wardrobe with sliding doors in our bedroom as I was fed up with her not having enough space and leaving a pile of clothes constantly on the floor. Despite my efforts she still has a big pile of clothes on the bedroom floor as she fills a section of the wardrobe with food and cleaning products when you get BOGOF deals etc. Me and the kids often take the mickey out of her secret stash and call it “Tina Express (instead of Tesco Express)”. So whenever we run out of anything it home, the first question you ask is, “Is there any in Tina Express?”. Now with the Coronavirus pandemic, the threat of a lockdown and the lack of available food in the supermarkets – we have now realised that maybe Tina had a point with her secret stash and “Tina Express” may be our saving grace!

Anyway the government have imposed restrictions on any non-essential travel or contact with other people, small businesses are panicking and some airlines have already gone out of business. Most international borders have been closed to travelling anywhere is a complete no, no at the moment. This brings great concern to us as we had a family holiday booked for the summer holidays going to a lovely resort in Bulgaria. Fortunately we have only paid a small deposit with the next big payment due in April, however the way things currently are I very much doubt this trip will go head.

Joshua’s school will now be closing for all of Year 7, 8 and 9 effective tomorrow due to available resources with government restrictions on the number of people in specific locations. So what resources the school does have available are being used on the older children that are preparing for their GSCE’s etc. So as of tomorrow we now have to start planning childcare and out of school learning for Joshua (and I suspect Holly and Brandon will follow very soon after). Fingers crossed the school(s) will send home plenty of work for them to do.

We won’t know for sure whether this is a storm in a tea cup or a major humanitarian issue that will go down in the history books forever. I guess only time will tell and hopefully in 3 or 4 months’ time we can look back on all of this and hope it was all an overreaction. Until then the football season is effectively over, cinemas and restaurant’s closed and the streets look like ghost towns as everyone remains at home.

Joshua getting creative at home and making his own face mask from paper and elastic bands.

Meet the secret stash that is "Tina Express"!